


Strawberry Peace Forever

by misura



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Domestic, Hurt Ethan Hunt, M/M, Post-Mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 12:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17121803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Jesus Christ." Brandt felt it was an underreaction, considering. He also mentally scrapped the 'two weeks of sex, interrupted by naps, meals and maybe a bit of snuggling on the couch while watching a compilation of amusing cat videos Benji put together' scenario and replaced it with a 'two weeks of naps, meals and amusing cat videos, interrupted by medical check-ups' scenario."It looks worse than it is," Ethan said.





	Strawberry Peace Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tannne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tannne/gifts).
  * Translation into 中文 available: [Strawberry Peace Forever](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338442) by [Vilya7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vilya7/pseuds/Vilya7)



When Ethan had mentioned needing a place to stay, Brandt had (foolishly, in hindsight) assumed he meant that his own place was uninhabitable for whatever reason or maybe that Ethan wanted to spend the next two weeks having lots of sex, which was fine with Brandt.

Then, of course, Ethan took off his shirt.

"Jesus Christ." Brandt felt it was an underreaction, considering. He also mentally scrapped the 'two weeks of sex, interrupted by naps, meals and maybe a bit of snuggling on the couch while watching a compilation of amusing cat videos Benji put together' scenario and replaced it with a 'two weeks of naps, meals and amusing cat videos, interrupted by medical check-ups' scenario.

"It looks worse than it is," Ethan said.

"It looks like you should be in a hospital," Brandt said, which was a lie. What it looked like was that Ethan should be dead, could have been dead, but for the grace of whatever deity watched over heroes, gamblers and adrenaline junkies. "What did you do, get into a fistfight with a mountain?"

"Something like that. You can pull the file, if you want to."

Brandt hadn't yet, and he had no intention of doing so now. "Hunley briefed me on the basics." Right before giving him two weeks of paid leave for 'personal reasons'. Brandt hadn't yet figured out whether or not that meant Hunley knew about him and Ethan, but, well, gift horses.

Last time Brandt had wanted a vacation, he'd needed to submit about ten forms, in duplicate. Twice, because the first set had somehow ended up being accidentally incinerated as 'sensitive material, destroy after reading'. (Oh, the many joys of bureaucracy.)

"Brandt." Ethan put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "I'm fine. I'm here."

Brandt pulled away. His brains were firmly on the no-sex track, but his body hadn't quite gotten with the program yet, and Ethan being Ethan, Brandt didn't really trust him to make the right call here.

"You want some coffee? Oh, and Benji sent over some funny cat videos we could watch."

Ethan sighed and flopped down on the bed.

Brandt decided it was going to be a long two weeks.

 

He was half-right. Ethan - well, with his shirt on and everything, it was easy to forget what he looked like under his clothes. They went grocery shopping, and while Brandt caught himself checking every strange face he saw against the list of known assassins and hostiles, he managed not to actually assault anyone for getting too close to Ethan or positioning themselves so that the security cameras wouldn't get a clear view of their face.

"Brandt," Ethan said. "You need to relax."

"Bag that size - you know what she could have in there?" Brandt did.

"Her grandson's violin case," Ethan said. "He's ten, and very good. We had a nice little chat while you got the lettuce."

"Oh." Brandt decided not to ask if Ethan had seen the violin. "I - sorry. I'm a little tense."

"A little," Ethan agreed. "Desk jobs, eh?"

Brandt didn't think now was the time to talk about his career change, to say nothing of the place. On the other hand, he did want to talk about it, and Ethan had just given him a pretty clear opening.

"I should have been there," he said. "In the field. With you."

"I agree," Ethan said. "You want to get some ice cream for dessert?"

 

Ethan saying he agreed was all very well, of course, only it wasn't that simple, was it? Hunley - nice guy, just the right kind of sneaky and flexible to fit right in, but there was a _lot_ he didn't know, and the Forces That Be (as in: the majority of Brandt's colleagues) had decided that Brandt would be the right guy to show him the ropes.

Brandt didn't disagree. He trusted Hunley to understand how to run things, more or less, and how to handle Ethan, but the IMF wasn't the CIA, and he needed to make sure Hunley understood that.

At the same time, on a more personal level, Brandt needed to get back out there and do things. He was fine with letting other people save the world; he accepted that saving the world was a team effort, and that William Brandt functioned as a small cog in a big machine.

He did not, quite, accept that anyone would have Ethan's back the way he had had Ethan's back. Seeing Ethan get back from his latest mission covered in bruises and lucky to be alive did not help.

Being told to sit down in his own kitchen and let Ethan do the cooking did not help.

Eating a delicious dinner while watching Ethan handle his fork and knife as if there was nothing wrong did not help.

"How about we make it an early night?" Ethan asked over dessert.

It didn't take an analyst to figure out what Ethan meant by 'an early night'. Brandt had thrown together a quick guestroom on the first day, pretending it had been there all along, and Ethan had played along.

Apparently, Ethan had decided to stop playing. That, or he'd simply decided that he was healed enough to think about sex.

"If you're feeling tired, I can do the dishes, no problem," Brandt said.

"Brandt," Ethan said.

"All right, you do the dishes."

"I already did the cooking."

"So you're the one who got the pans dirty in the first place," Brandt said. "Fair's fair."

"I would like for us to have sex tonight," Ethan said. "Are you in?"

"I'm not - " Brandt considered how best to phrase this. "I'm not out. Just - can we be clear on who's going to do the dishes? Because I think that's an important thing to settle."

Ethan gave him a look. "Forget about the damn dishes. Please."

Without that 'please', Brandt thought he could have held out. For another five minutes at least, and then after that, there might have been a work emergency or something, and he could have dodged the whole 'I'm afraid that if we have sex, you're going to become a medical emergency and I really don't want to have that on my conscience or have the hospital staff look at me funny for being a terrible boyfriend and possibly abusive' conversation.

"You're hurt," Brandt said. "I don't want to make things worse."

"So you would like to make things better?" Ethan said.

Brandt felt very much this was a trick question. "Well, yeah?"

"Great. You done with that?" Ethan jerked his head in the direction of Brandt's ice cream.

 

Brandt had tried to be careful, he really had. Unfortunately, lying back and letting Brandt do all the work wasn't really Ethan's style, so here they were, the morning after, with Ethan wincing and Brandt feeling like the worst jerk he'd ever met while looking in a mirror.

"You're giving me that look again," Ethan said. He was watching something on his tablet.

Brandt chose to believe it was a funny cat video. "That look? What look?"

Ethan put down the tablet. Brandt caught a glimpse of something that he'd be willing to swear was absolutely, positively a funny cat video. During a polygraph, even. "I'm fine. How many more times do I have to tell you before you believe me?"

"You're not fine," Brandt said. "You're recovering. You shouldn't be physically exerting yourself."

"And I didn't," Ethan said.

"See, now you're just hurting my feelings."

"You deserve it, for letting me think you were mad at me or something," Ethan said. He was grinning, which meant he was extremely dangerous right now. Brandt had gotten some of the best sex of his life right after having Ethan grin at him.

Brandt frowned. "Why would you think I was mad at you?"

Ethan stopped grinning long enough to look exasperated instead.

"It's not my fault you're an idiot," Brandt said. "I was trying to be considerate. You know, like a normal person would be. Our relationship isn't just based on sex."

"It's not?" Ethan asked, expression - all right, Brandt was definitely in trouble here.

"You're right. I mean, why would I be putting up with your shit if it wasn't for the great sex?"

"Can I have a moment to decide whether or not you just hurt _my_ feelings?"

"Look," Brandt said, deciding that all was lost anyway. "I'll make a deal with you. We can have all the sex you want - "

"Done."

" - if, _if_ you promise to tell me when you feel it's getting too much," Brandt finished. "I'm serious here. I don't want to be responsible for one of your wounds opening up again or something."

"Done," Ethan repeated.

"I mean it. I'm very, very serious about this."

Ethan nodded and leaned in for a kiss that very much felt like a prologue.

"Also, it goes without saying that I'm back on your team again as soon as Hunley's ready to take off the training wheels," Brandt added, reasoning he might as well go for broke here.

"Wouldn't want to do it without you," Ethan said.

Brandt decided to ignore the nagging suspicion of Ethan already knowing what 'it' was in favor of concentrating on the situation at hand.


End file.
